Outlook
by rasclie
Summary: University student Yuuri Katsuki was commonly known around school for being a sweet cinnamon roll, kind to all. What his classmates didn't know was that he was an avid fanfiction reader and aspiring author. One day, he receives a message from his favourite author, Makkachin. The two formed a bond, but the computer screen proved itself to be an obstacle as they grew closer.
1. Chapter 1

Picture credit to mochii! You can contact her at her instagram: mochiicream. Thanks so much for the design, mochii!

* * *

A sigh escaped from Yuuri's lips as he dropped his backpack onto his bed. Exhausted, he took off his glasses and placed them onto his bedside table. He plopped down beside his bag onto the fluffy duvet that covered his mattress, several papers jumping into the air at the sudden movement.

As a freshman in university, Yuuri was unaccustomed to the large amount of work he received and hadn't properly planned out his schedule. A week ago, he had found himself stuck with three papers due within two weeks and no research done. His routine for the past few days had consisted of working at the school library until closing time and then returning home to his apartment to work until his body forced him to sleep.

After a week had passed, he found he had miraculously finished two of the three papers. With one more week to go, he decided he could take a break for the night, finish the last paper in the following days, and then proofread all of his papers before they were due.

His break from work, he decided, would be indulging himself in the lovely world of fanfiction ― something he had not been able to do a single time while he had been working on his papers. He pulled his laptop out from his backpack and pressed the power button. With a yawn, he looked over at his clock; it read 20:06. Yuuri concluded he could read until 23:30 and then go to bed to receive the sleep his body direly needed.

Once his computer had turned on, Yuuri opened his e-mail. He found several messages from classmates asking about his progress on his papers and a few from his parents and sister asking about school life. He disregarded these, clicking on the search bar. He typed in "Makkachin" first, hoping to find an e-mail notifying him of the user's activity.

Makkachin was the username to Yuuri's favourite fanfiction author on . Although not much was known about her, Yuuri felt oddly connected ― if only through the characters in her stories. Makkachin was a relatively well-known author; one of the writer's stories, _Food Stakes_ , had made it onto the sites most popular list at #5 for an entire month. Although Makkachin was popular for her stories like _Food Stakes_ that had angsty plots about friendship and competition, Yuuri mostly enjoyed Makkachin's romantic stories. They were usually full of such longing from the main character's point of view that Yuuri sometimes cried. Yuuri wondered if Makkachin had some form of unrequited love of her own ― to be able to write longing with such accuracy. It was impossible, however, for Yuuri to know as the only thing written in Makkachin's profile was "Writing is fun and enjoyable!" She kept personal details out of her profile and her stories' intros and author notes.

After Yuuri entered Makkachin's username into the search bar, three unread e-mails appeared. One notified Yuuri that she had updated _Food Stakes_. While Yuuri found the story entertaining, he was in need of a good love story, and he glanced through the other two e-mails in hopes of one.

The second e-mail, however, disappointed him as well. It read that Makkachin had updated _Living Flames_ , a horror story that she had decided to attempt a few weeks ago. Many of Makkachin's readers agreed that it was well-written but obviously new territory to the author. Yuuri was surprised to see the update notification; Makkachin had commented in the last chapter that she might drop it as it was not very fun to write. Nonetheless, it appeared that the author had not yet decided to give up on the experimental story.

The third e-mail piqued Yuuri's interest, yet at the same time, it made him wary. The notification was about a love story of Makkachin's, yet the "new story" notice alarmed him. Yuuri knew that Makkachin's first chapters always focused on setting up the scene. While they were good for explaining the story's background to the reader, they never held the angsty romance that Yuuri desired in that moment. The story was also based off an anime of which Yuuri wasn't particularly fond.

Displeased with all three, Yuuri decided to check out Makkachin's update on _Food Stakes_. Horror made him feel uncomfortable, and he hadn't yet worked up the nerves to attempt reading _Living Flames_. He decided that if he was in the mood later, he would read the first chapter to the new romance story, _Cloud on a Bed_.

Makkachin wrote relatively long chapters, and twenty minutes had passed by the time Yuuri finished reading the update. The chapter was full of tension as the main character and her friends tried their best to win the cook-off in which they were partaking. Throughout the entirety of the chapter, things didn't look good for the protagonist as ingredients went missing and equipment kept breaking. She managed to cook according to these disadvantages, but her process was considerably affected. Makkachin ended the chapter on a cliffhanger ― right as the meals had finished cooking and were to be presented to the judges.

Yuuri stretched out on his bed with a smile on his face. Makkachin knew how to perfectly enchant others into her stories, regardless of the reader's preferred genre. While Yuuri had wanted a romance story, he found himself extremely pleased with the cooking story about friendship.

Excited by this new chapter, Yuuri clicked to message the author. He typed out a long message about how much he liked the author and how well-written the chapter was. However, he chickened out before sending the message. After every chapter he had read, he would go through this process of writing a message and deleting it before sending it. Yuuri saw this author as a god and was too intimidated to directly message her. As per usual, he instead turned to updating one of his own stories.

Yuuri himself was a fanfiction author and a good one at that. Many of his stories had made it onto the site's top 100 most popular, some within the top 50. However, he never felt confident in his writing and always wrote while considering how his readers would react. He never let his reader's feelings take absolute control over what he wrote, but if he felt they'd react badly to something, he'd make sure to leave it out. Some of them had noted before that they felt like he could have written more but hadn't. Regardless, Yuuri was always frightened to write out all that he wanted to write.

After a week of writing school papers, however, Yuuri's imagination was eager to be used. Once he opened up Word, Yuuri's fingers flew across the keys. He paid no attention as he wrote and allowed his feelings to come out as he pleased. Yuuri didn't even attempt stop himself; he enjoyed writing like this, and chapters that were written like this had always been the most well-received.

By the time he had finished his chapter and uploaded it, he noticed that it was already 22:32. With only an hour before he would head to bed, he picked out five stories at random that he would read. For the following hour, he read. All of the stories he had chosen were romance fanfictions, but he felt as if none of them really compared to Makkachin's most recent update. After finishing the five stories, he noted it was 23:28. He closed his laptop, ready for sleep, before heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

When he looked at himself in the mirror, he noticed bags under his eyes. Yuuri laughed at the sight before picking up his toothbrush and holding it under the faucet. As the water ran over the toothbrush, he stuck his tongue out and scrunched his nose, making funny faces at himself. Then he brushed his teeth. As he left the bathroom, he turned out the lights.

* * *

The moment Yuuri reentered his room, he tossed his backpack and laptop off from his bed. As he got under the covers, he reached for his bedside lamp and pulled on the cord. Once the lights were out and his head hit the pillow, Yuuri closed his eyes and let sleep overtake him.

Yuuri groaned as he woke up the next morning, displeased with the pressure he felt on his chest. He opened his eyes and smiled when he found Vicchan, his dog, laying there. The small poodle had its eyes closed and was breathing slowly. Reluctant to wake the sleeping dog, he slowly pushed the poodle off of him.

Once he got out from under the covers, he tucked in the dog and smoothed out the rest of his sheets. As he walked to the bathroom, he let out a loud, unrestrained yawn. His eyes forcefully shut themselves at the sudden brightness as he flipped the light switch. He turned on the shower water, making sure to adjust the temperature so it wasn't ice cold yet didn't quite hold any warmth. As he stripped himself of his clothes, he noticed that he was starting to look a little chubby. He hadn't been working out at all during the past week, and the lack of exercise was starting to make itself known in his face and stomach. He had to admit he wasn't fond of his ability to gain weight so easily, but he also wasn't extremely conscious of his body figure. He just accepted this fact as it was and occasionally exercised to keep himself at a healthy weight.

Finally clean and awake for the day, Yuuri dried himself off. Wrapping his towel around his waist, he walked over to the bathroom sink. He repeated the same process as last night, making funny faces at himself before brushing his teeth. He couldn't quite pinpoint when he had started doing that. He only remembered his mother making funny faces with him when he was younger, and he kept the fond memory close to his heart.

He made sure to turn off his bathroom light as he left the room; his parents had taught him that wasting electricity was expensive and should always be avoided. He walked over to the dresser opposite his bed and pulled out the top drawer. From here, he pulled out some navy boxers and white crew socks. He then proceeded to open his second drawer, taking out a black T-shirt. He choose black pants from his fourth drawer, completing his outfit for the day.

After dressing himself, Yuuri looked at his clock; it read 6:13. He had roughly an hour to eat breakfast and head to school before his first lecture started. Grabbing a pair of sneakers from his closet, he headed toward the pile of belongings beside his bed. Yuuri picked up his laptop from the ground before packing it into his bag. As he left the room, he turned off the lights and left the door open just enough for Vicchan to make his way out once he woke up.

Outside of Yuuri's bedroom was his apartment's living space. Yuuri groaned at the sight of all the microwaveable meals that littered the room. He made a mental note to himself to do a major cleaning once he was done with the last paper. The stress from these papers was turning his lifestyle unhealthy.

He continued walking through his apartment to the kitchen, hopping on his left leg as he attempted to slide his right foot into his shoe. Once Yuuri reached the kitchen, he placed a hand on the counter to support himself and slip his foot in. He switched hands to get his left foot into a shoe.

Now that he was fully dressed, he headed to the refrigerator. He looked inside to find a carton of eggs, a stick of butter, a half-full gallon of milk, a few apples, and some bread. He pulled out the eggs and milk. Yuuri closed the fridge and opened the cabinet directly to the right of it, pulling out a glass. He opened the egg carton and noticed there were only three left. He took two of the remaining eggs and cracked them into the glass. Yuuri added a little bit of milk to the glass before returning both ingredients to their place in the refrigerator.

He pulled open the drawer two drawers over from the fridge and took out a fork. Closing the drawer with his hip, he picked up the glass of egg-milk mixture and stirred it with the fork. Once the mixture looked like it had blended well enough, he reached for a pan from the cabinet below the utensils drawer. He placed the pan on the front left burner of the stove and turned on the flame at medium-low heat. As he tossed the egg-milk mixture into the pan, Yuuri reached over to grab a spatula from the jar beside the stove. He pushed the yellow liquid around with the spatula as it started to bubble and solidify. Pleased with the rumpled appearance of the eggs, he turned the burner off.

Yuuri reached into a cabinet and pulled out a plate for his scrambled eggs. After scraping them onto the plate, he set the dirty pan into the sink. He proceeded to open the fridge and pull out one of the apples in the bottom drawer. He rinsed it off in the sink before dropping it onto the plate beside his eggs. Once again reaching into the cabinet next to his refrigerator, he pulled out another glass and filled it with water.

He took his meal to the adjoined living room and sat down on the couch. He ate in silence, planning how he was going to work on his assignment after school. Once he was finished eating, he headed back to the kitchen to clean off his dishes. He put the two forks, the plate, the two glasses, and the pan into the dishwasher afterwards.

Yuuri glanced at his watch and saw that it was 6:52. He had a little bit over half an hour until he had to be on campus and in class. The walk there was only fifteen minutes, so he decided he had enough to glance over some reviews for his new update. He walked back to the sofa in his living space and pulled out his laptop.

Opening , he was pleased to see that a good amount of people had read his new chapter. He scrolled down until he reached the oldest review he hadn't yet read. A soft smile formed on his lips as he read one of his reader's comments on the story.

 _Katsu im so happy u finally decided to update sunlight shower! u dont usually write about family but i think ur doing well for exploring a new genre im not surprised u find ur inspiration in Makkachin tho shes a good writer and u can sometimes see her influence in ur stories in a good way ofc! keep up the good work im looking forward to the next update  
-TigerInk_

TigerInk always responded to Yuuri's updates in a young, overly-excited way. It was endearing to the aspiring author that someone was so invested in his writing. Scrolling up, he read some other reviews by readers. Most of them raved about how good of an update it was or that the story was going well, considering Yuuri had never written a story on family before. Finally, Yuuri was reading the most recent review, and his heart stopped.

 _I didnt know that you were also a big fan of Makkachin! Since you are I decided to message them and direct them over to your profile. They did inspire you after all. Makkachins very responsive to readers reviews so I definitely think theyll read mine and check out your stories. I hope they likes it and you two decide to do a collab or something!  
-más de Chris_

Yuuri's heart and mind were racing. _Makkachin is going to read one of_ my _stories?_ he thought. _Nononono, this is bad. I'll just disappoint her. My writing doesn't compare to hers at all. Why is this happening? I nev-_

A beep stopped him mid-thought. Yuuri looked down at his watch which read 7:15. He had to leave if he wanted to get to school on time. He slammed his laptop shut, deciding he'd deal with the problem later, and shoved it into his backpack. Realizing he didn't have his glasses on, he ran into his bedroom to grab them from his bedside table. Vicchan jumped up in surprise at the sound of the door slamming into the wall.

"I'm sorry, Vicchan," Yuuri apologized. "C'mon, boy. I'll feed you real quick. And when I'm home, I'll give you a nice long walk to apologize for waking you up early." He scurried out of the room to his kitchen and yanked open one of the cabinets. Snatching the dog food, he poured some into the bowl that was in front of the sink. He picked up the water bowl beside the now-filled food bowl and added water to it. Yuuri quickly plopped the bowl onto the tile floor before running back to the couch to retrieve his backpack. As he was unlocking the door, Yuuri called out to his dog.

"Be a good boy while I'm gone, and watch over the house for me!" he shouted. Then he rushed out of his house into the apartment building hallway. A beep was heard, and running down the hallway, he called out for someone to hold the elevator open for him.

A few people shot glares at Yuuri as he apologetically smiled and slid into the elevator. He looked down at the floor, holding his backpack strap tightly, during the entire descent to the first floor. Once a ding was heard, the doors opened, and Yuuri ran out of the elevator like a bat out of hell. He darted to the building exit and slammed through the doors. The August air was hot and humid, and two minutes into his run to school, Yuuri was sweating. He paid no attention to the beads of sweat that rolled down his face and neck, desperate to make it to school on time.

* * *

By the time Yuuri arrived to school, it was 7:28. He rushed to his first class, working his way through the crowds in the hallways and jumping out of the paths of others. Just as he reached his first class, he saw his teacher turning the corner from down the hallway; he had made it just in time. Yuuri relaxed once he entered the room and scanned it for a certain Thai boy. His eyes landed on the dark-skinned boy at the very back of the classroom with an empty seat beside him. He waved in Yuuri's direction. Yuuri rushed over to the other's side and claimed the available seat beside him.

"Phichit, you will not believe what happened!" Yuuri exclaimed. The shorter male smiled at the sight of his friend's excitement.

"What, did you get a date?" Phichit joked. Yuuri was not entertained by the other's joke and gave him a look.

"No. You know how I write fanfiction occasionally?" Yuuri asked. Phichit raised an eyebrow in response.

Phichit was the only other person to whom Yuuri had revealed his fanfiction obsession, but it wasn't intentional. Phichit had spent the night at Yuuri's place once and had seen the taller boy writing something on his computer. Interested, Phichit had peeked over the other's shoulder before he could close his laptop. Although Yuuri had wanted to keep it a secret, Phichit's constant pestering made it impossible to hide the truth. Yuuri decided that if anyone were to know the truth, Phichit would be the one. When the older boy had revealed the truth, Phichit had admitted to liking fanfiction as well but nowhere near as much as Yuuri. For the Thai male, reading fanfictions was a pastime; for Yuuri, it was a necessity.

Phichit's eyebrow raise was not one of confusion but one of mocking doubt. The younger boy knew that Yuuri read fanfiction on a routinely basis. "Occasionally" was an extreme understatement, and both of them knew it. Yuuri shook his head in exasperation.

"Well, you know how I read fanfiction, right?" he restated his question. Phichit knew his answer would be cut off, so he simply nodded in response. "Okay, so you know about the user, Makkachin, right?" he asked. Phichit's eyes lit up with excitement, and Yuuri knew he was about to enter one of his fanboy moments.

"You mean _the_ Makkachin? The one who writes _Food Stakes_ and released what is literally the _best update_ _ **ever**_ last night?! _That_ Makkachin?!" he squealed. Yuuri nodded with a smile on his lips.

"Mhmm," Yuuri excitedly responded. "So, here's the thing. I also happened to update last night, and-"

"Okay, class, settle down," a voice shouted from the front, penetrating the air. Laptops were pulled out, and conversations died down immediately after the command was given. No one dared to talk during Professor Yakov's lectures. Anyone who even breathed too loudly would get an overly-aggressive scolding; most people cried. Eager to tell Phichit his story, Yuuri opened up a sticky note on his computer and began typing:

 _So i happened to update it last night and in my update, i may or may not have mentioned the fact that Makkachin is a big role model of mine._

Yuuri tapped on Phichit's shoulder to get the younger male's attention. Upon reading the message, Phichit scrunched up his eyebrows and pulled up his own sticky notes application. He wrote:

 _So?_

Yuuri aggressively blew air out of his nose, frustrated that his fanatical friend wasn't understanding the severity of his situation. A few students in front of the two turned around with fear in their eyes. Yuuri saw Yakov shoot a glare in their direction before proceeding with his lecture.

 _So! mas de Chris said that he was going to message Makkachin and tell her about my stories! shes going to hear about my stories and possibly read them DO YOU NUDERSTAND?!_

"Oh. My. God," Phichit exclaimed. Once again, people turned around to look at the duo. This time, however, it was a majority of the room. Professor Yakov let out a grunt of frustration.

"Phichit Chulanont and Yuuri Katsuki. If either of you intend to interrupt my class one more time, please leave now. If not, then please pay attention to the lecture," he shouted. When he noticed neither of them moved, he added, "If I hear a single noise from back there, I will be sending you both home immediately." Yakov then proceeded to give his lecture. Phichit eagerly jumped back onto his sticky note and typed something out. Yuuri looked over to see the writing:

 _Go check and see if anything else happened! Quickly!1_

Yuuri looked up to see if the professor was paying attention to them, but he seemed to be distracted by his presentation. He discreetly opened up Google Chrome and typed " " into URL bar. A loud gasp came from Yuuri's mouth.

"OH. MY. GOD," he shouted. Everyone in class turned around once again, murmuring. The professor stopped talking and calmly walked over to the classroom door, opening it.

"Boys, here is the door. Now if you could please stop interrupting class and continue whatever you are doing _outside_ of the classroom." Both boys blushed as they hurriedly picked up their bags and scurried out of the classroom. The door slammed behind them as they left. Now that he could freely talk, Phichit turned to Yuuri. He was shaking with excitement.

"Okay, so you wouldn't have practically screamed that out in class unless something really good or really bad happened. What is it?!" he squealed. Yuuri mumbled something in response, but Phichit couldn't pick it up. "Yuuri, you need to be louder. C'mon. What happened?!"

"Makkachin messaged me."

 _El Fin_

* * *

 _Preview of next chapter:_

 _His heart was racing as he held the cursor over the send button. He would finally be able to talk to one of his favourite authors. Never before in his life had he expected this opportunity to come. Sure, he'd considered sending messages several times before, but he'd never found the determination to actually send anything. Now it was happening. He clicked 'send.'_

 _A sigh of relief was let out as the pressure was removed from his shoulders. He'd sent a message. Now he just had to wait for a response…_

* * *

Omggggg. It's my first time writing a fanfiction in, like, forever. Watching Yuri on Ice, my inner fangirl just came out, and before I knew it, I was writing this. Tbh, I have so much planned for this, and I really hope y'all stick with me until the end to watch it all unravel.

Shoutout to my soulmate (notreallybutreally) starmini who helped me sooooo much with the formation of the storyline and basically betareading this chapter. I'd have lost motivation halfway through writing this without you.

Anyway, so, that's it for the first chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! Leave a review and let me know your feelings. While I have this vaguely mapped out, I'm open to any ideas y'all might have. Also can anyone guess who TigerInk and más de Chris are? lol


	2. Chapter 2

Picture credit to mochii! You can contact her at her instagram: mochiicream. Thanks so much for the design, mochii!

* * *

A bright, cheery hum emitted from Viktor Nikiforov's throat as he searched his pockets for the keys to his complex. A soft 'ah!' could be heard as his fingers wrapped around the keychain, pulling it out. He looked through the cluster of keys in hopes of finding the one to unlock the door in front of him. His happy tune picked up pace when he found the silver key.

If someone were to ask him why he was so happy, he would've had to stop to think about it before replying that he just was. Viktor had woken up that morning with a good feeling in his gut; something told him it was going to be a good day that day. He didn't have a clue as to why he felt that way, but he trusted his intuition. It hadn't been wrong either. His day had passed smoothly without any major problems. He'd been praised at work; a co-worked had decided to treat him to lunch; he had been invited to a friendly dinner later in the week. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd had such an easy day.

The moment he pulled his door open, he was knocked off his feet into the hallway. With a smile on his lips, he patted the dog's head and greeted the excited pile of floof.

"Have you been good while I was gone, Makkachin?" he laughed. The poodle licked his face as if to answer back. "Well, let's go in and have dinner, shall we?" Viktor suggested, giving the dog a long, hard hug. After a few moments, he got up and entered his home, letting Makkachin run past his legs and enter first. With a pleased hum, he closed the door behind him.

Turning on the lights to his entranceway, he leaned down and unlaced his shoes. He left his shoes in the entranceway and walked into his living room. Viktor looked out from his ceiling-to-floor windows at the blue sky as he walked towards his kitchen. In the kitchen, he opened a cabinet and pulled out a can of wet dog food. Makkachin started to jump onto Viktor's legs, wagging his tail and nipping at the can of food. With a laugh, Viktor ruffled the dog's head before convincing the pooch to get back on the floor. He pulled the tab on the dog food container and smiled when he heard the release of air as he opened it. Clearing the dog from his path, he made his way over to the dog bowls set on the floor.

The food bowl was black with little white paw prints trailing around it. The water bowl beside it was the opposite — white with black paw prints around the outside. Viktor picked up the black bowl and dumped the chicken-flavored dog food into it. After he placed the bowl back onto the floor, he picked up the white one and carried over to the sink. He set it in the sink basin before lifting the faucet handle and waiting for the bowl to fill with water.

Once the water filled two-thirds of the bowl, Viktor turned off the faucet and placed it beside the black food bowl. Without Viktor noticing it, Makkachin had already begun to dig into the feast that had been lain before him. The silver-haired man chuckled to himself as he crouched and tried to ease the water bowl into the empty space without bothering the dog.

As he straightened, he looked around the room as if looking for something to eat. After a full turn, he shrugged as if nothing really suited his interests. His kitchen was, after all, very clean from lack of use, and his counters were nearly barren. He shrugged, seemingly unfazed.

"Guess I'll just order some food," he declared aloud. He looked down at the dog eating at his feet. "What do you think about that, Makkachin?" The dog only continued to eat.

Viktor happily walked into the open living area, nearly skipping. Once he reached the blue sofa, he plopped down. The pile of pillows next to him shifted toward him as his weight disturbed their placement. He reached for the nearest one and tugged it onto his lap. Cuddling the pillow, he pulled his ottoman closer and opened the Mac that lay on it.

Once it booted up, he searched for a nearby Chinese restaurant. Not really bothering to check the results, he clicked on the first option that appeared, Oriental Express. He browsed the site for a few moments, searching for the restaurant's number. Finally, he found the "Contact Us" section.

He picked up the phone from the little table beside the couch. Dialing the number in front of him, he mentally went over a list of what he would order. Egg drop soup, an eggroll, chicken lo mein, and some white rice should do! After a few moments of ringing, a worker picked up and asked for his order.

"Hi~! May I order a small egg drop soup, small chicken lo mein, an eggroll, and a small white rice?" he chirped. The worker repeated his order back at him in a drone. The order seemed to be correct, and he confirmed it with a pleased "mhmm." The woman on the other side of the phone gave him his price and asked for his name. Once she obtained the information she had asked for, she hung up after giving him a monotone "have a nice day."

With at least a half hour before his food arrived, he opened up a Google Doc. If he had time to do whatever he pleased, he decided he might as well work on one of his fanfiction. Not quite ready to get into the mindset of any of the characters in his existing stories, Viktor began a new one. As he didn't expect himself to get too invested into the new story, he decided to write one that highly involved romance.

Picking an obscure anime to be the setting of the story, he began writing. The anime took place in Heaven, and all of the characters were awaiting their turn for their souls to be given a new body. Viktor decided to keep the canon universe and storyline, placing his own story somewhere between events that were depicted in the episodes.

After a few minutes, he found himself entirely involved with the world he was creating. Although he hadn't planned to get too obsessed with the way the characters would look at the world, he found himself focusing mainly on the characterization. Viktor knew that his ability to make the characters three-dimensional was one of his best attributes when it came to writing. Only forty minutes had passed by the time he had finished, and he actually found himself quite pleased with what he had written. At some point, Makkachin had made his way onto the pillow in Viktor's lap and was napping.

Not quite sure how else to fix up his story, he sent it over to his betareader, TigerInk. Viktor had a lot of trust in his betareader. He had a remarkably fast response time, and he was unrestrained and honest with his opinions on chapters. Viktor had sent chapters to the other before receiving messages that said he needed to trash them and rewrite them. Although the popular author wasn't always pleased with the comments TigerInk made, they always held truth to them, and Viktor's stories always benefitted when he followed the advice.

After the chapter had been sent off, Viktor wasn't entirely sure what to do with himself. He felt like he had been progressive, but his inner writer was itching to continue writing. A few moments passed before Viktor decided to just begin working on a new update. Writing a new story had brought up his eagerness, and he decided he wanted a challenge to write. As a result, he decided to try and update his worst story yet, _Living Flames_.

He internally groaned as he opened the new document; he really wanted to drop the story. However, he felt like he had a duty to finish all of his stories, no matter how shitty he felt they were. With this in mind, Viktor began to write out the continuation to the horror story.

Twenty-three minutes passed, and Viktor's writing was interrupted by a knock on the door. He glanced at the time on his screen and noted that it was 6:14 PM. The Chinese restaurant had taken a little over an hour to bring his food, and Viktor was famished. He jumped off the sofa, tossing the poodle off in the process, and ran to the door. He made himself presentable enough to whoever was on the other side of the door before opening it.

After the deliverer exchanged food and money with Viktor, the door was shut. Viktor hurried to the table attached to his kitchen counter with his steaming food in-hand, sniffing the aroma that came from the bag. Makkachin circled his legs, excited by the smell of the food. As Viktor sat down at the table, the poodle tried to jump onto the chair next to him, but Viktor shooed him away. He had waited an hour for his food, and as much as he loved his dog, it was all his.

Reaching into the bag, he pulled out the container on top: egg drop soup. He ripped off the lid before digging a spoon out of the bag. After a few ravenous slurps of the soup, Viktor felt filled enough to calmly continue his meal. He was a little bored just sitting at the table and eating, so he hopped out of the chair and retrieved his laptop from the living room.

Those few minutes of inactivity had put the computer into Sleep mode. With a random scribble on the mousepad, the screen lit up, and Viktor's half-finished story greeted him. He happily continued to type it out, taking spoonfuls of soup in between sentences. Once the soup was finished, he laid the bowl on the floor and allowed Makkachin to lick out of it. He pulled the next item out of the brown paper bag, the chicken lo mein, and proceeded to eat it while continuing his story.

This process continued until he had finished all of the food that he had ordered. He picked up all of the plastic food containers and rinsed them in the sink. Once they were clean, he pulled out a cabinet and dumped them into his recycling bin. When he came back to his laptop, Viktor looked at the time again. Thirty-seven minutes had passed since his food had arrived, but he had probably only been working on his story for thirty-two. Looking at the progress he had made so far, he guessed that he only had about ten more minutes until the chapter was done.

Excited to get two chapters out in one night, Viktor jumped back into the story he was making. He quickly finished the chapter, taking a minute more than he had expected. Looking over the story once after he completed the chapter, he decided to send it to TigerInk as well. When he opened his e-mail, he noticed that the betareader had replied back to him in regards to his first story. Viktor sent the chapter for _Living Flames_ before opening the e-mail in regards to the new love story.

The first sentence to the e-mail held a little hostility, reading: DUDE WTF YOU CANT FUCKING START A NEW STORY WHEN YOU HAVE SO MANY THAT ARENT COMPLETED YOU DAMN IDIOT. Viktor laughed. TigerInk's username definitely fit him; his responses had the ferocity of a tiger. Once he had stopped his chortling, Viktor read the rest of the e-mail.

 _ahem anyways… i think its good so far i made some small grammar edits but as usual u dont have many mistakes in the grammar department as friggin expected the charas r really realistic and relatable i think u could take out the part about Chisio falling on a banana tho… like rly… thats so fucking cliche can u not as for the title i think u could title it something about clouds maybe cloud dreams or something idk u can play around with the idea whatever_

Viktor had to agree with the angry little betareader; the banana scene was extremely unnecessary and cliché. When he was writing it, he had thought that it was funny to use something so ridiculously cliché. Looking back on it, however, he realized it was just idiotic. Viktor deleted the scene before thinking about what TigerInk had said about the title. The useage of clouds would be smart. Thinking it offer for a few moments, he came up with Cloud Princess.

He jumped onto Our Canon and clicked the "New Story" option. Just as he was about to publish it, a better title for the story dawned on him. He scrolled back to the top of the page and retitled the story. Pleased with the new name, Viktor published _Bed on a Cloud_. Now that he had the story published and was awaiting TigerInk's response on _Living Flames_ , Viktor didn't know what to do with himself. Once again, he found himself bored, and nothing really appealed to him. Since he was already on a roll with the fanfiction, he decided he might as well write a chapter to one more story. He promised himself that it would be the last one for the night. He had already been working for at least an hour and a half, and his eyes could only take so much staring at a white computer screen with little letters.

Since his brain was already a little exhausted from all the writing, he figured _Food Stakes_ would be the best story to work on. It was an easy topic, and Viktor was highly involved with the characters. So far into the story, he felt like he could really predict their actions and thoughts.

When he opened the blank document, his fingers went straight to typing. The scene was playing out right in front of Viktor's eyes, and he struggled to type as fast as he thought. Many typos were made in the process, but Viktor decided he would go back and fix them afterwards; he couldn't allow a typo to mess up his flow. Thirty-five moments passed within a blink of the eye, and Viktor was done with the new chapter. Now that the content was completed, he went back over his writings and searched for grammatical mistakes. There was an overwhelming amount of errors, and Viktor spent almost half of the time that he had spent writing the chapter just to edit it.

Seemingly pleased with the result, he sent it over to TigerInk. Once again, the betareader had looked over the previously sent chapter by the time Viktor e-mailed the new chapter for _Food Stakes_. Just as he had been in the previous e-mail, TigerInk was helpful with advice yet a little rude with his edits on _Living Flames_.

 _honestl even writing this anymore i thought u had given up on it in the last chapter its rly not ur best work in fact its ur absolute worst work ever compared to most authors this is good but for u this is absolute horse shit i looked over the chapter repeatedly and i cant do much the grammar is good the characters r good but the storyline in general and the writing technique is just… ugh whatever also WHY TF DID YOU HAVE TO DO TWO STORIES IN ONE NIGHT? IS THAT RLY NECESSARY? i have a life u no i take time out of it to read over ur stories bc i think theyre good and i was taught to treaty girls kindly but honestly drop this fucking story already_

Viktor's lips formed a stiff frown. TigerInk was right, but he was trying his best to write this story. Horror was entirely out of his comfort zone, and he was writing this story so he could broaden his it. Viktor didn't even want to think about the fact that TigerInk thought he was a girl. Almost every on Our Canon addressed Makkachin as a girl, so Viktor had begun to respond to them without correcting them. In the very beginning, he had tried desperately to remind his readers that he was indeed male, but it seemed that those who had been there in the beginning no longer held interest in fanfiction. With them gone, everyone who read his stories simply knew him as a popular female author.

Viktor opened the tab for Our Canon and clicked the "Update Story" option. He knew that TigerInk had told him to drop the story, but it felt wrong to him. He felt like he was abandoning the stories as well as the characters. He published the chapter without many notes. Makkachin's readers understood that she was struggling to write the chapters, so Viktor thought they would continue accept her lack of finesse.

In the short period it had taken Viktor to read over TigerInk's edits and publish the new chapter, the betareader had finished the update for _Food Stakes_. Viktor would always be amazed at how quickly the other returned the documents with complete edits and advice. When he opened the e-mail regarding _Food Stakes_ , Viktor wasn't surprised to find it relatively short.

 _its good no obvious mistakes definitely ur best story but plz dont send me any more stories tonite im studying for a major test and this is just to much_

The bad mood that had formed from TigerInk's advice on Living Flame disappeared as Viktor finished reading the e-mail. He had once again been reminded that his writing wasn't actually bad; he just didn't write well in horror. With his happy mood returned, he updated _Food Stakes_ onto Our Canon. Viktor looked at his laptop clock again, pleased to find that it was 8:03. He had only spent roughly three hours to write three chapters.

Since he was done with fanfiction for the night, Viktor shut down his computer. With a stretch, he got out of the counter chair. Makkachin bounced up from his position on the floor and looked expectantly at his owner. Viktor gave the dog a head rub before heading to his bedroom, turning off the light on his way.

As Viktor opened the door, Makkachin bounded into his room and jumped onto his bed, wrinkling the neat covers. He panted and wagged his tail as Viktor continued on to the bathroom. He turned on the lights and started for the bathtub. Once he reached the tub, he turned the knob to hot and plugged the drain. Viktor scrolled through Instagram as he waited for the tub to fill. Most of the posts that he saw were his co-worker's. A few were from old friends from university, but in the year since he had finished university, he had lost touch with most of his friends there. He figured it couldn't be helped; in their line of business, people came and went often. They would surely meet again at some point in the future, but there wouldn't be any communication before that time came. Different schedules just didn't allow meetings to happen, and Viktor didn't communicate much with others over social media.

Viktor noticed with a start that the tub had filled while he had been scrolling through his Instagram feed. He rushed to turn off the water, allowing some to drain. He stripped off his clothes and threw them into the hamper on the other side of the room. The heat on his skin made him moan out in pleasure. His muscles certainly become sore throughout the day, and the hot water comforted his aching body. He pulled up his phone and continued to browse through Instagram posts as he relaxed further into the water.

Viktor jumped as he heard a loud bell go off. As more bells continued to chime, Viktor realized that he had received a text from one of his co-workers. He had set his text alarm for co-workers to the bells to let him know if it was something urgent. He opened up his messages and saw that Chris had been the sender. Viktor released a sigh of relief; if it was Chris, then it probably wasn't an emergency.

As Viktor had predicted, the message was nothing to fret over. Chris was just praising Viktor on his writing in his new updates. The blonde was constantly praising Viktor on his accomplishments outside of work. During work, they were competitors, but after work, they were close friends. Inside and outside of work, Viktor would have to say he trusted Chris the most.

Viktor decided he had been resting in the bath long enough; the water was beginning to lose its heat. He whimpered slightly at the cold air that greeted his warm body and quickly turned to pull the drain. Eager to get back to warmth, Viktor practically ran over to the shower. He turned the handle and impatiently tapped his foot as he waited for the water to heat. Once the water reached a temperature he liked, he jumped into the shower and closed the glass door. His shoulders relaxed as he was once again covered in warmth.

He went about his usual routine in the shower, lathering his hair with shampoo and then grabbing the soap. Viktor laughed as he washed himself with soap, noting that he was entirely covered in soap suds. He watched the suds travel down his body as the water washed them off. Once he was sud-free, he grabbed the conditioner. Squeezing out a small amount, he spread it through his hair. He washed the conditioner out and then stood there a few moments more, reluctant to leave the warmth of his shower.

After a while, Viktor turned the water off and rushed out of the shower. He quickly grabbed the towel hanging on the hook beside the shower and used it to try himself. Wrapping it around his waist, he made his way to the sink. He mentally berated himself for forgetting once again to turn on the vent as he showered. The mirror above the sink, as per usual, was covered with condensation. Viktor used his hand to wipe it off, leaving barely visible smears from his hand. He gave himself a long look before opening the mirror and grabbing his toothbrush and toothpaste.

After he brushed his teeth, Viktor checked to make sure the bath had fully drained. He unwrapped the towel from around his waist and hung it back on the hook. He grabbed his phone from the tub border and left the bathroom, turning off the light as he passed the switch.

When he returned to his room, Makkachin was asleep on his bed, lying directly in the middle. Viktor sighed, knowing he'd have to wake the dog and move the poodle aside once he was ready to get to bed. He headed over to his dresser and opened the top, middle drawer. Viktor pulled out a pair of briefs and shut the drawer. He began to walk to his bed as he slid them up his legs.

Just as he was about to wake the pooch sleeping there, he heard bells ring. He rushed over and retrieved his phone from the top of the dresser. Once again, it was Chris who had messaged Viktor, but the message seemed a little more urgent this time around, indicated by the presence of only capital letters. Viktor unlocked his phone and read the message, curious as to what Chris was freaking out over. Viktor gasped as he read the message.

 _KATSU WROTE A NEW CHAPTER, WHICH IS REALLY GOOD BTW, AND HE SAID IT WAS IN HONOR OF YOU AND YOUR WRITING. HES A BIG FAN OF YOURS! CHECK IT OUT!_

Viktor let out an excited squeal as he ran back out to his kitchen and opened laptop. He pressed the power button and impatiently tapped his mousepad. When it finally turned on, he opened the browser, quickly typing ' ' into the URL bar, but severely mistyping it in the process. Google ended up searching and had come up empty. Viktor groaned in frustration as he retyped the URL for Our Canon. Once the site loaded, he furiously clicked on the "Log In" option. He logged into Makkachin and rushed to search 'Katsu.' The user had most recently updated _Sunlight Shower_. Viktor opened the story and happily jumped in place when he saw the little note on top that read, "In Honor of Makkachin, my idol."

Viktor went back, shaking with excitement, to his account page. He opened the DM function, and started to type a message to Katsu. His heart was racing as he held the cursor over the send button once he was done. He would finally be able to talk to one of his favourite authors. Never before in his life had he expected this opportunity to come. Sure, he'd considered sending messages several times before, but he'd never found the determination to actually send anything. Now it was happening. He clicked 'send.'

A sigh of relief was let out as the pressure was removed from his shoulders. He'd sent a message. Now he just had to wait for a response. He was still shaking, but now from nerves, as he thought about the different types of responses Katsu could give. Viktor waited twenty minutes before he reluctantly turned off his Mac. He had an early day the next day and couldn't afford to stay up extremely late.

As he started back for his room, his mind was running around in circles, imagining different scenarios that could play out. Although his brain knew that there was no reason for Katsu to reply crudely, Viktor's heart couldn't calm at the thought of talking to the author. Viktor admired the way the other author wrote his characters, and he loved Katsu's honest writing style. When he was back in his room, he softly shifted Makkachin to the side of his bed, trying desperately not to wake the poodle. Once he was under the covers, he let out yet another squeal of excitement. He couldn't wait until Katsu replied. As he closed his eyes for sleep, he saw different response continue to play across his eyelids. Once he had fallen asleep, the thought of Katsu's response continued to prevail in his dreams.

 _El Fin_

* * *

 _Preview of next chapter:_

 _I've always admired you. Every time I read your stories, I find myself being dragged into your world. There's just something about your writing. If it's okay with you..._

* * *

Shoutout to my homeslice, starmini. Again, my motivator and prime advisor through this all. Bless her soul for helping me plan the story to what it is and will be.  
Me: Guys… I was on such a high after episode 10. And now… Fak.  
starmini: Nooooo! Pretend 11 was a horrible nightmare. Suppress the memory and carry forth! Chapter 2 is calling for you. T.T

Y'all are missing hilarious editing. I was calculating the timing through the entirety of this chapter. Like, if Viktor writes this for this long, how long until Yuuri gets home and sees all three. How long does it take for him to edit if he's this shit of a writer here; is there even enough time?! "YOU HAVE 20 MIN TO PUBLISH BOTH STORIES YOU WHORE." There was also a hella amount of fangirling over Viktor's hot ass.

Notice: I could definitely use a betareader now, too. Even though starmini reads this over, we mess around a lot during the process. Things can go unseen! Help this story become even better~


	3. Chapter 3

This story was beta read by the lovely Danni! You can contact her at her AO3 account, Dannibolt8.

* * *

The sound of metal meeting marble rang through the air as Yuuri tossed his keys onto his kitchen counter. He turned around and opened his mouth only to close it when he saw Phichit close the door behind him as he entered. Yuuri smiled softly as Vicchan ran out from his bedroom to greet his best friend.

"Um, you can just head into my room and sit down on the bed. Do you want anything to drink?" Phichit gave Yuuri a teasing smile, and he tensed up in response. "Phichit, I'm too scared to actually read it. Please don't make me until I've mentally prepared myself for whatever she messaged me," he begged. The Thai boy just rolled his eyes before grabbing Yuuri's wrists and pulling him in the direction of his own bedroom.

"Yuuri, you know I can't let you wait and hide until you're ready because you'll _never_ be ready, and then you'll _never_ read the message meaning _I_ will never get to read the message. So you're reading it now!" Phichit exclaimed, seemingly exasperated with the other boy's antics. He persistently tugged on Yuuri's wrist, but Yuuri continued to stubbornly stay in place. "Yuuri, _come onnnn_ ," he whined.

"I can't, Phichit. I can't read it," Yuuri announced, staring past Phichit with a distant but terrified look in his eyes. The other boy internally groaned, letting out a soft sigh.

"Look at me, Yuuri," he commanded softly. Yuuri complied and focused his eyes on Phichit's. "Your role model and idol has decided to reach out and message you. This is something to celebrate over. Aren't you excited to see what she's said?" he eagerly pressed and Yuuri slowly nodded. "Then let's go read it." Yuuri nodded again, and Phichit smiled when his tugs met little resistance.

Vicchan followed the two into the bedroom, jumping onto the bed the moment he reached it. Phichit urged the dog to the end of the bed before taking a seat. He noticed Yuuri was still standing and eagerly yanked the older boy down next to him. Yuuri was getting noticeably more nervous as time went on and began to start shaking.

"Yuuri, take a deep breath. It can't be anything bad, so you don't need to be so worried!" Phichit tried, and Yuuri couldn't help but grin at the Thai boy's endearing attempt to calm his nerves. However, when he realized Phichit was waiting for him to pull out his laptop, Yuuri tensed up again.

"Yuuri…" Phichit grumbled, and Yuuri blushed at his name being called in such irritation.

"I-I know," Yuuri muttered as he began to take off his backpack. Once both straps were off his shoulders, he turned to unzip the bag. He glanced over at Phichit who gave him an encouraging smile then proceeded to grab his laptop. He yanked at it, trying to unlodge it from the messy cluster of papers, folders, and miscellaneous items inside. His bag suddenly loosened its grip on the laptop, and Yuuri nearly fell off the bed from the sudden release.

With shaking hands, Yuuri placed the laptop down on his lap and lifted the screen. He entered the password to his account when the display asked for it, and the system let him in. He typed the URL for the site in his search bar. Glancing over at Phichit one more time, he hit enter. The characters reading out "new messages (1)" made his heart skip a beat. Yuuri stared at the screen, too nervous to proceed any further. Phichit leaned over and impatiently moved Yuuri's hand away from the mousepad before using it to view Katsu's new messages. A long stream of different message threads appeared, but he clicked on the only one in bold: **Makkachin**. Yuuri immediately shut his eyes in fear of what the message might say.

"I'm going to read it out to you if you don't open your eyes, Yuuri," Phichit declared. When he realized Yuuri wasn't going to open his eyes, he began to read the message aloud.

" _Katsu,_

" _I was really surprised to discover that I am your idol! I'm very flattered by the declaration because you, too, are an idol to me._ _I've admired you since you began writing on this site. I was in a bit of a writing rut and not sure how to continue about my fanfics when I came upon your first story,_ Teardust _. It was very enticing, and I've read every tidbit you've published since then — even stories that you began, gave up on, and deleted._

" _Every time I read your stories, I find myself being dragged into your world. There's just something about your writing that I can't put my finger on. Plus, it's been interesting to watch how your technique has progressed and matured since then! I look forward to seeing how it will change from now on as well._

" _If it's okay with you, I would love to maybe start talking to you and exchange tips on writing fanfics. I believe we could better each other in many ways, and I've always been curious as to what type of personality you have. I hope this hasn't scared you away and made you lose respect in me! Ah, if that happened, I don't know what I'd do with myself!_

" _Anyways, please get back to me whenever you can… if you respond at all! I'd love to hear back, so please do._

" _Thanks,  
_ " _~Makkachin_ ," Phichit finished. He looked over to see how Yuuri had handled the message and was startled to see silent tears running down his face. Alarmed, Phichit jumped from the bed and squatted in front of his best friend.

"Yuuri, are you okay?" he asked quietly. Yuuri opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He settled on nodding, apparently unable to speak. "Are you sure? Are you crying from disappointment?" Yuuri's eyes widened and he aggressively shook his head in denial. "Are these happy tears, then?" He closed his eyes and nodded. Phichit smiled, happy that his friend was overjoyed to the point of tears and unable to speak. "So how are you going to respond to her?" Yuuri's breathing and tears stopped.

"Phichit, are you kidding?! I can't respond to her! If we start talking, she's going to realize how lame I really am! I'd rather just not respond and let her keep thinking I'm the cool author that she pictures me as!" he shouted.

"Oh my gosh, Yuuri! How can you _not_ respond to her?! I understand you're nervous, but she's obviously very interested in getting to know you." At that, Phichit smirked a little. "I think she deserves a response from one of her idols and the person who motivated her while she was in a rut!" Yuuri rolled his eyes at his overly energetic friend's reasoning.

"I'm not going to, Phichit." Yuuri was settled on his decision. "If she had said that she just enjoyed my story or maybe even said that she was honored to be my idol, I would respond. But now she has ridiculously high expectations for me as a person, and I don't think I can meet those expectations…" Phichit sighed at his best friend's complete lack of self-esteem, making itself known once again.

"First, you definitely wouldn't have responded regardless of what her message said. Second, you act like you're absolute trash, and you're not. You should reply to her!" he tried again. Yuuri shot him a look that said he would not reply to Makkachin's message no matter the situation. "Fine, whatever, but I'm spending the night here tonight! Recommend some fanfics for me while I'm here," Phichit declared.

"I'm fine with that. We got kicked out of the only class I have today, so I don't really have anywhere to be for the rest of the day. How about you?" Yuuri asked.

"Same here. Free as can be~" Phichit chimed.

* * *

The two spent the day reading fanfiction. Phichit had a preference for stories that were packed with action, but Yuuri pleaded that whatever they read would have some romance as well. The boys settled on fanfictions that only contained both genres, and in the end, neither was pleased. Yuuri thought the action tacky; Phichit found the romance cheesy. After a while of arguing over the stories, they decided to end their binge-reading of fanfiction.

Hours had passed since they started by the time they stopped, and they were surprised to find it was already late in the afternoon. Phichit recommended that they go out for a late lunch or early dinner, and Yuuri agreed that food sounded tempting after hours of not eating. Before leaving for food, the two took Vicchan on an hour-long walk, and Yuuri was not pleased when they got home — forced to deal with his hunger for another hour.

"You were the one who recommended going out to eat and then forced me to wait another hour for Vicchan's walk. He's a good boy, and he could've waited until we got back," Yuuri grumbled, a pout on his lips.

"Every time we go out, we always end up staying out for a while," Phichit reasoned. He shot Yuuri a joking frown in return. "You really want poor little Vicchan to stay locked up without his daily walk for so long?" he asked, kneeling to the ground and giving the poodle a long scratch behind the ear. The pooch barked in return and closed his eyes as he leaned into the feeling of Phichit's pleasant head rub. Yuuri couldn't argue with his friend when he saw the dog melt into the ground in happiness.

"Alright… Where are we going? I'm hungry." Phichit smiled up at Yuuri.

"Don't you want some nice katsudon?" he chirped. Yuuri grinned back at him and nodded.

After they finished their meal, it was roughly 6:45. Seeing as the night was still young, Phichit cheerfully suggested that the two go to a nearby bar and spend most of the night there. Yuuri was hesitant for three reasons — three logical reasons.

"Phichit, we can't… Both of us are still 18," he whispered across the table, not wanting to draw anyone's attention to the fact that two underage college students were thinking about getting into a bar. Phichit just rolled his eyes in response with a smirk on his lips.

"Hasn't stopped you before," he teased back, digging into his bag. He had pulled out two ID cards, one donning Phichit's face and the other donning Yuuri's. "According to this, we're 21; I don't see the problem with two 21-year-olds trying to get into a bar for some beers." Phichit took the one with Yuuri's face and poked the other boy's hand with it. Yuuri's arms retreated from off the table, and he brought them to his lap. He looked down and fiddled with his thumbs. One excuse down.

"I don't have enough money on me," he squeaked out. Phichit giggled at the statement.

"You don't have enough money? You who always brings, like, 100 extra bucks everywhere you go? Even if you didn't, you know I always carry enough money to cover both of us," Phichit laughed out, a sly smile decorating his face. Yuuri's hands tightened together. Two excuses down. Suddenly he looked up and stared straight into Phichit's eyes.

"Phichit, you know I just can't," he finally managed. Phichit just waved his hand as if waving away Yuuri's doubts.

"Yuuri, do you doubt my ability to protect you from embarrassing yourself?" he gasped in mock offense, and Yuuri knew he was done. Three excuses down. His shoulders slacked as he decidedly gave himself up to the fate of going to a bar with Phichit.

"I'd trust you with my life," he agreed, smiling with quivering lips. He trusted Phichit with his life if they were ever in a dangerous situation, but he did not trust a drunk Phichit with anything besides his life. The moment the Thai boy got even a little under the influence, he got a little reckless and encouraged Yuuri to partake in questionable activities with him. Normally, Yuuri would politely decline the offers and try to convince Phichit not to do anything reckless when he's not thinking clearly. However, they both knew that Yuuri would throw away any and all reservations when he's drunk.

While Yuuri was internally having a mini freakout over the idea, Phichit was mentally cheering. He was happy to be spending time with his best friend, certainly, but he had his own deeper motives. Phichit needed to give Makkachin the response she deserved, and he wholeheartedly believed Yuuri wasn't going to send it. If Yuuri wasn't going to be the one to send it, Phichit decided he'd do his friend a favor and get things started. He was sure that Yuuri would eventually start talking to Makkachin if he felt that she wouldn't judge him. First, however, Phichit needed to establish that, and to do that, he needed to send that message. If he planned to do that, he needed access to Yuuri's Our Canon account without interference. However, Yuuri protected his account with his life. Even Phichit wasn't granted the knowledge of his password, so the only way to get in was through Yuuri's laptop. Phichit had to get Yuuri to go to sleep first for his plan to work. He had thought up many different ways to tire out the older male, but in the end, the most logical and most easily executed idea involved alcohol — a decent amount of it.

Although Phichit had succeeded in making it to the first step of his plan, getting Yuuri into a bar, the second step was proving itself to be much harder. Yuuri needed to consume quite a bit of alcohol, and after an hour of sitting at a bar, he hadn't even finished half of his first drink. Phichit understood Yuuri's hesitation, but he did not approve of his plan going to waste. The younger male leaned across the bar to grab Yuuri's drink. Taking Yuuri's wrist, he pushed the drink into his hand.

"C'mon, Yuuurrrii~" he cooed, sounding slightly drunk to Yuuri. "Makkachin contacted you!" he cheered. Yuuri tensed up at the statement. "Let's celebraaate!" Phichit picked up his own glass and brought it up to toast Makkachin's message. Yuuri brought up his own before downing it.

The reminder that his idol had messaged him brought back all kinds of nerves that Yuuri didn't want to address. With alcohol in his grasp, he decided that for once maybe getting a little drunk wouldn't be a bad idea. He could at least forget about it for the night, and tomorrow he'd be too preoccupied with his hangover to think about it. The prospect was too enticing for Yuuri to turn down.

By the time 8:15 had rolled around, Phichit had thought Yuuri was drunk enough to pass out, and Phichit had tried to get them home. However, Yuuri had decided he was, in fact, not drunk enough to forget about Makkachin's message and had continued ordering more drinks. Phichit was glad that Yuuri was enjoying himself and no longer drinking by the time 8:45 came. However, he wanted to get back to Yuuri's apartment.

Firstly, he did not want Yuuri to embarrass himself. Once his friend had decided to stop downing drinks, Yuuri's less reserved side had begun to show itself. Phichit had brought Yuuri to the bar by promising him to not let him do stupid things. If Phichit failed at doing that and Yuuri found out, he knew he'd get an earful the next day. As amusing as it was to watch a drunk Yuuri, an angry Yuuri was not someone one would want to be around.

Secondly, Phichit did have an early class the next day, so he wanted to get back to Yuuri's apartment as early as possible. He tried earnestly to get the boy to go home, but every time he tried to bring it up, Yuuri would laugh and continue doing as he pleased.

* * *

Phichit looked at the watch on his wrist. It was a little after three in the morning, and Yuuri had finally passed out on the couch. Phichit hadn't even managed to get the older male home until two, and once they had entered the apartment, Yuuri had still been bouncing off the walls. Phichit chuckled just thinking about it.

He took Yuuri's arm and brought it over his shoulders, picking Yuuri up from the couch. Yuuri grumbled something in his sleep, but Phichit couldn't decipher it. Phichit dragged Yuuri to his room, stopping a couple times on the way there to reposition Yuuri. Yuuri was, after all, taller than Phichit. Once he managed to get Yuuri into his room, Phichit pulled down the covers and tossed him onto his bed. He took Yuuri's glasses and placed them on the bedside table before covering Yuuri with his sheets and moving aside to let Vicchan join his owner. Phichit smiled at the sleeping boy.

"God, the things I do for this boy," he thought to himself as he picked up Yuuri's laptop from the floor and brought it with him to the living room. He sat down on the sofa and set it on his lap. He opened it, greeted by Yuuri's system account screen. Thankfully, Yuuri _had_ told him the password to his laptop, and he entered it. Phichit pulled up Our Canon, glad that Yuuri never logged out of his account. He noted that Katsu's update had received some more comments, but he ignored them. Instead, went to Katsu's inbox and re-opened the message from Makkachin. Phichit reread it, wanting to refresh his brain on its contents. His fingers went to work, writing a response to Makkachin. Once he was done, he sent it without hesitation. Phichit closed the laptop with the biggest smile on his face. Yuuri might be upset with him when he found out, but Phichit believed it would be worth it in the end.

He took the laptop and brought it back to Yuuri's room, laying it back where it had been. Phichit went into Yuuri's bathroom and opened the mirror cabinet. He pulled out the toothbrush Yuuri kept for when Phichit stayed over. As always, he was happy that Yuuri kept it there for him. It was a little sign of friendship that Phichit held dear. He brushed his teeth before returning it to its place in the cabinet.

Phichit walked out of the bathroom and through Yuuri's bedroom. He found a blanket in the ottoman and pulled it out. He turned off the lights to the living space before returning to the couch. Slipping off his shoes, he wrapped the blanket around him and laid down. He set an alarm on his phone before tossing it to the ottoman. Phichit was finally ready to sleep, and he settled further into the couch. He couldn't help the way the corners of his lips lifted as he drifted to sleep. He was glad Yuuri was his friend and that he could do this for him.

* * *

 _El Fin_

 _Preview of next chapter:_

 _I'm Katsu's friend. You can call me Hammy. Katsu was really excited to receive your message! But he got scared and couldn't respond. That's why I'm responding. I can help you with…_

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Gah, I have such a respect for authors who write one-shots that don't go highly in-detail, properly convey the passing of time to the reader, and are still _good_ in, like, 3-4k words. Like, mang, I wish I could write like that. :T I've also recently really come to respect the writing style where the narrator is a little dissociated from the reader. I feel really involved when the narrator seems a little distant. Weird, huh?


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